This invention relates to a spinnaker boom intended to be attached to the mast of a sailing boat and by co-action with the spinnaker sheets to contribute to the carrying of the spinnaker.
Sailing with a spinnaker is a very difficult and even a risky element in sailing. This is accentuated with so-called jibing maneuvers, and especially in ocean sailing racing. At a jibe, the direction of the boat in relation to the wind direction is changed, and the spinnaker boom, hereinafter called the boom, is to be moved over from one side of the longitudinal center line of the boat to the other side, and hereby be transferred from co-action with one spinnaker sheet to co-action with another one.
Known booms are arranged and intended so as at one end to be hingedly attached to the mast of the boat, and at the other end to be attached to and run along one of the spinnaker sheets, for example starboard, by means of a hook, loop or the like. At a jibe, the boom is moved over from one side of the boat to the other. This can be effected in that the boom is detached from the sheet, whereafter its free end is turned upward and over to the other side of the boat and thereafter attached to the sheet on that side. Another way of effecting the jibe is that both ends of the boom are detached, and the boom is moved across the longitudinal direction of the boat from one side to the other and attached to the mast and sheet, in such a manner, that the end having been attached to the mast is attached to the sheet, and vice versa.
Irrespective of how the boom is moved over, the movement is carried out substantially manually. The member or members of the crew are on the fore-deck while carrying out the maneuver. This implies, of course, substantial risks, especially in ocean sailing racing. There are great risks that the boom interferes with the spinnaker sheet, other sheets etc., which may imperil the crew and also cause time losses.